Vending-machine.



P. J. REGAN. VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.11, 1907.

Patented Sept. 15, 1908.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

' J I I A TTOR/VEYS W/ YYVESSES P. J. REGAN. VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED'PEB.11, 1907.

Patented Sept. 15, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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A TTOR/VE Y5 PATRICK J. REGAN, or IOWA CITY, IOWA.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Sept. 15, 1908.

Application filed February 11, 1907. Serial No. 356,823.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK J. REGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Iowa City, in the county of Johnson and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Vending- Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in vending machines, and its object is to produce a device of great simplicity where by, through the intermediary of an inserted coin, articles will be delivered to the person inserting the coin, and but one article can be obtained from the machine by the insertion of a single coin.

The invention consists essentially of a carrier for the articles to be delivered, movable to carry sucharticles to the point of delivery one by one. This carrier is under the control of a movable member, which latter is engaged by the inserted coin, and another movable member is employed and is under in connection wit the control of the person inserting the coin so as to engage said coin and through the lat ter move the article-carrier to a point where the article may be' delivered within the reach of the party who inserted the coin. The construction is such that that portion of the mechanism within reach of the intended purchaser can be manipulated any number of times but unless a coin is inserted the article-delivery portion of the apparatus will not be operated. The invention will be fully. understood from the followingldetailed description taken the accompan ing drawings forming part of this specification, in which,

Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of the improved vending apparatus,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, of

the lower portion of the casing showing the, operating mechanism in the position assumed during one phase of its movement; and Fig. 3 is a similar view of the operating mechanism in another phase of its movement.

Referring to-the drawings, there is shown a casing 1 of any suitable shape that may be desired and which may be provided with a cover 2 secured against 0 ening by unauthorized persons by a loo 3 Extending transverselyacross the lower portion of the casing there is a hollow shaft 4 carrying two disks 5-5 spaced apart and provided with equidistant seats 6 formed in their periphcries. These disks constitute carriers for the articles to be delivered, the said articles being arranged to gravitate to the seats 6. In

'the drawings the articles 7 are indicated as long thin vials which may be typical of bottles containing fluids, or candy or pellets, or they may be replaced by pencils, cigars, or,

in fact, any article that it may be desired to to turn therewith and the said shaft 4 is journaled in the side walls of the casing 1 and projects beyond one of the side walls, as shown at 8. Upon the projecting portion 8 of the hollow shaft 4 there is carried a disk 9, one

face of which is close to the side wall of the casing and from the other face of this disk there project pins 10, shown in the drawings as three in number but by no means limited to such number.

lh itendingv entirely through the hollow shaft 4 there is another shaft 11 and at one end exterior to the corresponding side wall of the casing 1 this shaft is threaded and there receives a nut 12 between which and the correspondin side wall of the casing is inter osed a was er 13. The other end of the s aft carries and has fixed thereto a disk 14 corresponding to and parallel with the disk 9 upon the shaft 4.

The distance between the conti uous faces of the two disks 9 and 14 is determmed by the length of projection of extension 80f the hol ow shaft 4 beyond the outer face of the disk 9, and this extension'will be in ractice a little greater than. the thickness 0 the coin to be'used. Projecting from the face of the disk 14 toward but not quite touching the contiguous face of the disk 9 is apin 15.

At the side of the casing 1 where are located the two disks 9 and 14 is a coin chute 16 having an interior passage of proper shape to receive a coin such as a five-cent piece or nickel designed to operate the machine. The lower end of this coin chute is enlarged to form a cylindrical casin 17 surrounding and inclosing the disks 9 an 14. The coin chute 16 enters the cylindrical casing 17 to one side of its center or approximately tangential thereto, and in the bottom' of the casing 17, .at

a" point nearly diametrically opposite the point of entrance of the coin c exit opening 18 through which the coin may fall into a coin-receiving compartment 19, which latter, in ractice, will be so arranged as to be accessifile to authorized persons for the ur ose of removing the coins therefrom.

T e slliaft 11 extends through and beyond the outer wall of the casin 17 and there has fast u on it a disk 20 Whic may be engaged by a etent 21 of the type commonly used for fixing the stopping point or points of a rotary device. That is, the disk 20 may have suitably located notches in its periphery and the detent 21 may be s ring-actuated so as to en gage the notches ut in such manner as to not prevent the rotation of the disk.

The shaft 11 is extended beyond the disk 20 and there carries an operating hand-piece which, in the present instance, is shown as a milled wheel 22. Fast on it, in the casing-the hollow shaft 4 carries a ratchet wheel 23 and upon the side of the casing is a pawl 24 in the path of the teeth. of the ratchet wheel, so' that the shaft 4 can be rotated in but one direction. Now, when a coin is drhpped into the coin chute 16 it gravitates intothe space between the two disks 9 and M, which space is in line with the passage of the coin conduit 16. The coin ultimately falls upon one of the pins 10 which, in the normal operation of the machine will always be in its path, and the pins 10 are so located that the coin will rest one portion of its edge on the corresponding pin and another portion of its edge, located at a point somewhatless distant than the diameter of the coin, against the inner wall of the casing 17. The user-now turns the milled head or wheel 22 and thereb rotates the disk 14 in a direction to bring t e pin 15 against the edge of the coin at a oint near the top of the same about equi-istant between the point of contact with the coin on the pin 10 and the edge of the casing 17 On the continued rotation of the shaft 11 by means of the milled head 22 motion is transmitted to the disk 9 and the shaft 4 with its carriers 5 and these carriers 5 with the articles located therein will be rotated with the shaft 11.

Surrounding the carriers 5 is a curved guide plate 25 terminating in a delivery pocket 26 outside of the machine. An article contained in a pair of seats 6 in the disks 5 is prevented from leaving the seats by the curved plate 25 until these seats are opposite the delivery pocket 26, when it will leave the seats by gravity and roll into said pocket and may be removed therefrom by the purchaser. This is arranged to occur just prior to the coin reaching the opening 18 and a slight further forward movement of the milled head 22 will cause the coin to fall from between the two disks 9 and 14 into the compartment or ute, is an receptacle 19. The shaft 4 is now no longer rotated and the shaft 11 may be rotated to any extent without in any way causing any further delivery of the articles contained in the machine until another coin is inserted.

The articles may be arranged in one vertical series to fall one by one into the uppermost pair of seats 6, or a hopper-like arrangement may be employed to contain many of the articles and direct them one by one into said seats 6.

The disk 20 before referred to simply gives notice to the purchaser that the machine is in proper position to operate, but, if desired, this disk 20 and its detent 21 may be replaced by an ordinary pawl and ratchet wheel to prevent the shaft 11 from being turned except in the proper direction.

I claim r 1. In a vending machine, a shaft provided with carriers for articles to be vended, a rotatable disk on the shaft adjacent to the carriers and having pins projecting from one face thereof, another rotatable disk more remote from the carriers than the first-named disk and parallel with but spaced from the first-named disk and provided with a pin projecting toward the first-named disk, said pin having a path of rotation of greater diameter than the path of rotation of the pins of the other disk, a casing inclosing said disk and having its inner wall in coactive relation to the pins and to an inserted coin, and a coin chute opening into the space between the disks substantially tangentially thereto to direct an inserted coin between one of the pins of the first-named disk and into contact with the inner wall of the casing in the path of the pin on the second-named disk.

2. In a vending machine, two parallel spaced rotatable disks, a cylindrical casing tation so related to the inner wall of the casing and to the coin chute that a coin entering through the chute will be lodged between one of the pins and the inner wall of the casing and will then bein the path of the pin of the first-named disk, the said casing acting to hold any coin in operative relation to the pins during the active operation of the mechamsm.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afiixed my signature in thepresence of two witnesses.

PATRICK J. REGAN.

Witnesses:

FRED STEVENS, M. LEE. 

